We're moving!

we like our current apartment very much. it's got lots of light, it's very spacious with large bedrooms and large living room. it's been Ella's first home (and it's very similar in everything except the size to the other apartments we lived in in the same building, so it kinda feels like our first home too).
but
there have been little things that always bothered us about the building.
we can't have a dishwasher. we have to do our laundry in a common laundry room (with old machines that break all the time, and either over-cook your clothes or they're still wet when the cycle is done). the elevators break all the time (it's sheer luck that we were never stuck in one!)(that actually makes laundry more of a hassle, not to mention having to add 5-10 minutes to our commute just waiting for the elevator).

each of these things on its own is something that you can definitely live with. but put them all combined, add the cockroaches, and the fact that Ella is an ornery back driver despite all our effort, and it's just too much.
the cockroaches have actually been the last straw.
we've been fighting them since this spring (we never had a problem until this year). the management is "dealing" with the problem by sending a guy to spray every once in a while, but they keep coming.

to make a long story short (well, shorter. i already spent a long time telling it), we're moving out, and moving into a place closer to work.
the new place is also a high-rise, close to the lake, the park, and the science museum; it's a 20 minutes walk to work and 5 minutes drive to Ella's school. laundry is still in the basement, but we'll have a dishwasher, a brand new refrigerator, and elevators that actually work.
it would have been perfect if could also have a balcony... but can't win them all.

we're moving next week.

i'll miss the neighborhood and the park, being close to restaurants and stuff (not that we use them a lot, but there's the option!), but this is definitely the right thing to do - if not for us then definitely for the little munchkin.

i hope Ella doesn't miss the old apartment - the only home she ever had. i hope she doesn't get all confused and frustrated because things are not where they're supposed to be. it must be so hard to have the world change around you and not understand why! i hope she doesn't think that we're there temporarily and keep expecting to go back. i hope she won't get angry at us.

Firsts

July 18-21
Ella was attacked by coxsackieviruses. or as more commonly known, "Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease", (not to be confused with the hoof and mouth disease. which happens to cows. that have hoofs.)
seems like she didn't have it too hard, she only had fever for one day and she was back to herself within a few days. there's nothing to do - just wait it out and help with pain medication. hooray for first childhood disease and a good workout for the immune system!

First time at the beach - on the second day of being at home with Ima, after exhausting all of Ima's entertaining techniques, we went to the beach. it was pretty late in the afternoon so not too hot (but still pretty hot). i brought the little $5-kiddie-pool, inflated it, and filled it up with lake water. Ella didn't want to go in of course, but she was pretty happy to be able to sit next to it (on Ima) and splash a bit.
people looked at us and laughed at our kiddie pool, but we didn't care. the best attraction of the beach: people playing with a ball in the water. lots of "it's a ball!" (or maybe she said "beachball"??)


we also had the first Popsicle!!



Aba joined us after coming back from work



Ella wouldn't walk on the sand yet. she thinks it's a field of molten lava. she's also suspicious of the water in the pool, but at the end of the day she put both feet in the water. next time maybe she'll even sit there :)

Amigurumi!

a little bit late, but happily, these guys made their way to Fiona, Daphne and Stella's first birthday. (yes, i made them myself)

they were a lot of fun to make, and once you understand the techniques - not so complicated. i'm currently working on a forth one fot Ella :) this one is a modified version of the pink-faced lion girl, in the new version she's wearing a purple dress that you can pull up to see her bellybutton. pictures when i'm actually done.

patterns are from this book, which Nicole borrowed for my at her local library. yayy!



toes!


bunny has attitude.

shoes

July 12, 2010

anything can be a shoe with some imagination
   

cockroaches, the saga continues

we've declared a nuclear war with the German Cockroach.

last night we emptied our kitchen, sealed it off with plastic sheets and threw in a bomb.

ima! ima!

** ima **
it's the most adorable thing in the world is when your child starts calling you. i walk out of the room to get something or do something, and i hear her pure little voice calling "iiiiii----mmmaaaaaa" :D it makes me so happy!!!
(i'm sure i'll sometime regret this day... but whatever. i'm happy now).

** walking **
this weekend has been a leap in Ella's confidence in walking about on her own. i actually had to think about childproofing the house, since she's more apt to wonder off on her own and explore. this means gates by the scrooge toilet (not that she's ever shown interest in it), moving away their secondary water bowl (which she has shown great interest in), and just generally making sure no scissors are lying around where she can reach them. nice. i like it. we can finally regain feeling in our fingers, now that the grip is relaxed.


** body parts **
today i noticed that Ella knows almost all of the body parts. some in english, some in hebrew, and some in both. it's all ben's and daycare's work, i had nothing to do with it!
she successfully points at: rosh/head, aff(nose) ayin/eye, pe(mouth), teeth, ozen(ear), katef/shoulder, gav(back), pupik(belly button), foot, toes.
for full disclosure, she can't point at her own back, but she leans over so that you can pat it when you ask "eyfo gav".
i also noticed that she understands "where is" as well as "eyfo", and understands simple suggestions like "let's go sit on your couch".


** weekend buys **
when do babies stop growing so fast? we just got her these white sandals, and she's already grown out of them. one of the missions for this weekend was to find new sandals for Ella. we did. they're so pink. they're too pink, i don't really like them. but she liked them a lot! so we got super pink sandals. they're really too pink. how do i know she liked them you may ask? she just started running in the store, not asking for help, whereas with other sandals that she tried on she wasn't feeling that confident. who am i to argue with that :)
besides, i think she has a tiny little shoe fetish. her two favorite thing to do these days are trying to put on her shoes, and trying to buckle anything that buckles (does that remind you of a certain cousin?!?)
as you can see in the pictures, we also bought a little couch for Ella to sit on instead of the register.


ben is out of town for a couple of days, so i should really go to bed early... sigh... i hope i don't have to get up at 6 tomorrow morning!

Ella's first complete sentence

"it's a ball"
pointing at a picture of a ball on her diaper.

and now she's trying "it's a baby" pointing at a picture of a baby on a piece of junk mail.

Happy birthday, USA!

we spent July 4th weekend in Cadillac, yayy! we had lots of fun with family of the human, canine and feline kind.

* first dip in the lake
even though we live a block from the lake, we never really go swimming in it - because it's just too damn cold! (the lake patrol is a subject of another rant). so what a better place to do that than downtown Cadillac?
armed with a brand new swimsuit (the surfer look), and knowing that it will take some screaming at first, i got in the water with her. it took Ella a good 10-15 minutes to get used to the idea and the water and to understand that i'm not going to drown her. she whimpered at first and just looked all nervous. the waves scared her too. but after those 10-15 minutes she actually relaxed and had fun! after a little while she let go of her death grip on me and splashed water all over us. fun! i hope there's more swimming in our future.


(it doesn't look like it, but i'm actually sitting in the water which is not more than a knee deep).


* New words:
"A ball", kick (as in kick the ball), ti (for cat. we're not sure if it's short for kitty, or chatuli or what. both Roy and Phoebe were "ti"), עץ (=etz, =tree. applies to trees, bushes and other plants). bibi (for baby. other babies or pictures of her as a baby). hoo hoo hoo (for dog)(but also when asked what does a cat say). teeth.


* my baby can read!
Ella "reads" the first two pages of her Piggy and Elephant book:

La la la -- A ball!


* margarita recipe (from Chris):
3 parts 100% agave tequila
2 parts Gran Torres (or Cointreau or Triple Sec)
2 parts lime juice
2 parts lemonade
squirt of agave nectar to taste (available at Whole Foods, makes the marg ultra-smooth)
Pour over ice, shake and serve

New photo album

Ella - July-Aug 2010